Love Struck (10 page)

Sara walked into the bedroom, a
chamber that was equally as big as the whole penthouse itself, it could have
fitted a whole family, let alone one solitary woman.

She wasn't sure what she would use
the extra space for, but it came with a patio featuring a sublime view of the
resort and its shining ocean complete with the golden beach to entice her over
later.

She was looking forward to some sun
bathing and a swim, it wouldn't be a trip to a resort without paying the beach
and its ocean a visit.

First things first, she had a tour
ahead of her and time was pressing on, she had to get herself all prepared for
her youthful guide.

Sara put down her luggage beside the
king size bed. On the bedside table she found a clock, she checked to see the
time.

2:15

“No time to waste.” with less than an
hour remaining, there was no time to lose, Sara Sarracini did not want to keep
her charming new acquaintance waiting, she did not want to disappointment him
after building up a great start.

There was just one small task
preventing her from getting started, she scoured around the immense penthouse
and all its many marvellous attractions from a bar counter, to an indoor pool,
to a jacuzzi, to a flat screen television on par with a cinema screen, to a
relaxing lounge with a juke box player. Too many rooms and no clue where the
basic room she needed the most was, “Now where's the shower?”

The afternoon sun outside was the
perfect compliment to the island's luscious splendour. It was more brighter and
wonderful than it ever was in the days preceding today for Paulo standing in
front of the mirror in the deep blue bathroom with white tiling and panels. He
was engrossed in fixing his appearance for the biggest day of his life. He had
spent all afternoon working and reworking his hairstyle, clothes and
accessories, he wanted to be suave, cool and fashionable but not come off too
strong in the process.

He was on to something, after
breaking many eggs, he was coming close to having his omelette. He straightened
his hair to a refined style, rubbed on some cologne that could be smelt but not
gag at the airways, squirted in some breath freshener which was not too potent
but enough to evaporate the odours of his past meals, brushed his teeth to
whiten them up to hide the stains of his coffee and food particles. He fixed
the collar of his best cream white shirt and put on his smartest black leather
coat, buckled his sharpest dark blue jeans. He was decked in a smart causal
attire.

Satisfied with the way he looked, he
had acquired the result he was hoping for.

All that time spent was worth it, he
hoped he still had some of it spare to make it to his awaiting star, he did not
want to have gone over schedule and missed out on the opportunity of a
lifetime, he would have never forgave himself if he disappointed her by
inadvertently standing her up due to his perfectionism with looking good for
her.

He checked his imitation gold watch
that could fool the naked eye and add to his charming appeal.

2:45

Paulo was full of easing relief, he had
plenty of time to make it to his lovely superstar. He was pleased with himself,
filled with personal satisfaction. “A new record.”, he figured his
determination to not disappoint Sara Sarracini must have gave him the swiftness
to get prepared ahead of schedule.

It was a complete change of pace from
the previous times in the past, so many he had lost count. His perfectionism
had forced him to spend hours making himself look great, but once accomplished,
he either had a scant amount of time left to make it to the date as fast as his
legs could carry him, breathless at the destination, barely making it or going
over schedule and having to face the punishment, making it up to his pouting
and upset girlfriend, trying his hardest to bring her out the mood.

He may have endured her pouting and
scolding during and after what was supposed to be a romantic date, but it was
worth the price of looking presentable through it all. And while it may have
tested Gloria's patience, even she could not argue that he was easy on the eyes
and charmed her as potently as he did when she first met him.

Gloria sat on the couch, watching
television, or rather staring at the screen, disconnected from the lousy show
playing out in her zoned out eyes. Her mind was racing a mile a minute,
maddened by what was on the verge of transpiring, her boyfriend would be going
on a date and it did not involve his own girlfriend. Why she agreed to it was a
mystery to her.

She was regretting her decision, she
should have put her foot down and stayed firm, denying him from seeing another
woman. She guessed a rational side of her knew he would likely not forgive her
for denying him an afternoon with his adored actress, there was the glaring
risk of him running off with her in retaliation, never to return to his
girlfriend.

The more she thought about it, the
more she saw she was put in a serious disadvantage, this was not the summer
break she was anticipating when she agreed to come with him to an island
getaway to indulge in love and romance.

Had she known there would be blatant
envy and possible betrayal, she would have refused and then some. 

Paulo walked in, looking very snazzy,
not that Gloria noticed or cared to. To see him looking impressive for another
woman would have driven her off the teetering edge.

“What do you think?” he asked with an
eagerness to hear her meaningful opinion.

She turned off the television, to
keep her boyfriend she forced herself to look to Paulo, she was not at all
impressed. Had it been for her, her opinion would have likely been drastically
contrasting, she could have eyed him up all through their date, taken by his
suave and slick charm. But for another woman, all it did was infuriate her to
the next degree.

“A bit much, isn't it?”, she said
snobbish like an over opinionated critic.

“What do you mean?” Paulo asked
bluntly, his cheerful grin was wiped clean off his face. It was not the
response he was hoping from a supportive girlfriend.

“You look like you're going to a
Vogue photo shoot.” she told it to him straight, there was no beating around
the bush with her directness.

Paulo went on the defensive, it was
just as powerful as his girlfriend's defences, and would not be lowered without
a good reason. “I have to look my best.”

Gloria went on the offensive, making
her argumentative point valid enough to weaken or obliterate his defences. She
may have been tolerating the charade, that didn't mean she could not voice her
opinion or bite back, or do both “Why? You're going to be her tour guide,
you're not dating her. You don't have to impress her, just show her the
sights.”

Her point was valid but he had no
time to argue back, it all seemed like nitpicking to him anyway. He had to know
at least one thing, the vital question which needed an important answer “Do you
think she'll like it though?”

She gave him a long look, she got the
feeling she was wasting her breath speaking her thoughts, he only wanted to
hear what he wanted her to say.

He had no idea how hard it was for
her to openly admit he looked amazing for someone else, the fact he was
oblivious to her discomfort really made her question his consideration towards
others' feelings.

Holding onto her stubborn behaviour
and ethics, she replied with a short and sweet “I suppose.”, to make both of
them satisfied in the stalemate.

Paulo was over the moon to hear her
say that, it was good enough for him and proved she was fine with him seeing
Sara Sarracini. “Great. I thought so.”

2:52

Time was pressing on, it was a luxury
he could not afford to linger with. He hurried to the couch, tenderly kissed
her soft cheek.

“Are you going to be fine on your
own?” he asked, showing he had some form of consideration for another,
especially one as important as his girlfriend.

Gloria bit at her lip, refrained from
saying what she really thought, she had done plenty of that to no avail for the
day. To fight and lose, she never saw that coming. “Yeah, I'll be fine, I can
catch up on my reading.”

Paulo could sense she was just saying
that to make him happy and was not how she really felt. He was correctly riding
her wave length. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you just go and have fun.”
Gloria brought her performance to eleven, making herself seem more convincing.
The things she had to put herself through to make someone else happy.

“You can come too if you want?”

Her act faltered, she strained hard
to put on a false smile to hide her resentment of looking at her opponent in
the face, she risked lashing out at her at any given moment like a ticking time
bomb on the brink of going off. “Thanks but no thanks, I would

only be a third wheel.”

“All right.” he gave her another kiss
on the cheek, she really was something to put up with him and his ambitious
lust for Sara Sarracini, he appreciated it greatly and knew it must have been
tough on her. “I love you.”

She looked into his glowing loving
eyes, hoped what he said was true. “I love you too.”

Paulo headed to the door, on his way
to meet his adored diva for the big event of the day.

A feeling of dread came over Gloria,
she had the horrible insecurity it would be the last she would see of him. “Try
to come back.”

“You know I will.” Paulo opened the
door, gave her a cute wave, walked out, and then closed himself off from her,
whatever he did was a mystery to her at that point.

Gloria had doubts that he would come
back and if he did, would he have worked his charms on her behind his
girlfriend's back, her insecurity was in overdrive with no assurance to put her
racing mind at ease and give her some inner peace.

She groaned in frustration. “Some
break this has turned out to be.” she gazed at the door in great agitation, her
thoughts would not stop with the flooding rush of doubt and concern, she could
not shake the feeling he would give in to his weakness and do something more
than guide his diva around the resort, the forbidden fruit would be too
tempting to resist, and with his girlfriend not around to reprimand him and put
him in line, he was free to do as he pleased with no repercussions to taking
many bites out of it and loving the tantalizing flavour, craving more of it,
powerless to get satisfaction, he would get greedy and want more, disregarding
the plain, regular fruit that was his girlfriend in the process “You bastard,
Paulo.”

Gloria let out a longer groan of
agitation, he was pushing her to the limit, she would make sure he would not
get away with it. After all the trouble he had been putting her through, he
would be indebted to her for a millennium, Paulo would have to do some serious
work to make it up to her, giving her endless amounts of gifts she had always
had her eyes on, taking her to see the kinds of movies she loved but he thought
so very little of, obeying her every command and fulfilling her every whim. It
would have given her comfort to know he owed her big time, but it did not, she
was too concerned on the glaring danger of losing her boyfriend to another. It
was not fair, after all they had been through together. “Why are you doing this
to us?”

Paulo arrived at the destination she
had wrote down for him, followed the directions she had noted, it did not take
him long, he had bypassed the fancier hotels many times on his walks, noticed
their splendour caught in the corner of his eye, promised one day he would take
Gloria to one and rent out the richest suite, to live a life of luxury and have
a taste of fancy living to see if it was all it was cracked up to be.

Sprinting as fast as he could, he
took a quick breather to gather his composure and catch his breath before
meeting his beautiful diva, he did not want her to see him gasping and
exhausted from all the running. It was a good thing the cologne was masking out
the sweat seeping from his drenched armpits. He glanced at his watch, to see if
he had made it on time.

2:59

Success, it had reached her with one
minute to spare. Time was on his side today. It was aiding him in experiencing
an unforgettable evening with the star he idolized greater than any other.
After all, she was a radiantly beautiful and a radiantly captivating goddess of
illustriously alluring divinity and illustriously absorbing grace that lit up
the whole world brighter and greater than all the silver dazzling stars
gathered in an immense constellation in the depths of the universe.

He looked up at the elaborate hotel
in complete awe, it made the hotel he was staying at feel small and
insignificant in its imposing lavishness “What a place.”, he walked to the
stately entrance bearing its logo with pride.

It was like he was heading into a
grand palace to have an audience with the self-appointed monarch who ruled the
resort from his rich born and bred pedigree and favoured natural selection in
society's eye.

“I feel so under dressed.” it was the
understatement of the year for Paulo as the luxury and expense of the hotel was
clearer the closer he got.

Paulo stepped into the elegant hotel
to be graced by an even more elegant sight. He looked among the crowds of
classy and elegant guests, somewhere his diva was waiting in the lobby, it did
not take him long to find her, none of the others could hold a candle to her classy
elegance, she stood taller and grander than all the rest. As in the films, he
recognized her anywhere, in a close up or a long shot, on her own or in a
crowd.

3:00

There she was, up ahead, right on
time, exactly on cue, hitting her mark with flawless precision. She was on the
staircase, past the hoards of grandiloquent patrons, standing out in the
biggest frame that was life.

Sara walked down the stairs, her hair
neatly curled, her blue transparent dress giving a discreet hint at her blue
lingerie concealed behind the light fabric and white tight skinned trousers
were as fabulous as ever, her subtle make-up complimented her dazzling beauty
immensely without going too heavy handed and hiding her natural beautiful
visage.

Sara left Paulo and everyone in the
reception and lobby intensely stunned. She stood before her speechless admirer,
graced him with a pleasing, radiant smile.

“Paulo.”

“Sara.”

Straight away she was stunned by his
appearance, his charming magnetism was at its strongest, pulling her towards
him with no means of releasing her from its electrifying attraction. “My,
you're looking great.”

Paulo was ecstatic, his instincts
were not misguided, they were as right as they felt to him. “I look
presentable. You're the one who looks great.”

Sara gleamed, he could charm her all
day long and she would have not minded one bit. “You like what you see?”

“Very much.”

The spark of attraction struck with
an acute sharpness between them, more powerful than earlier in the afternoon.
They were instantaneously drawn to each other with no means of breaking away
from its pull.

There was no means of resistance from
the power of their wills, it was ineffectual to even consider it.

They were powerless to it, they were
compelled to go with its surging flow, the higher order of their instinctive
nature governing their every action like a rushing wave guiding them down the
rapids to reach the desired outcome they both distinctly anticipated.

“Where shall we go first?” there were
so many appealing locations on the resort to see, she did not know where she
was, where to go and how to get to the entrancing sights she had read about and
seen when arriving.

Sara was obviously a stranger in
paradise, had it not been for her accustomed tour guide, she would have been
lost in the continental, tropical sights, running around in circles that
corresponded to her spinning head at the rush of the plentiful amount of
substance, too much for one to tackle while flying around solo.

A perfect place sprang to Paulo's
mind since he first agreed to being her guide. “I've got just the place. You
won't believe your eyes when you see it.”

“I can't wait.” Sara was getting
hyped up already by his unquestionable enthusiasm towards his number one
preferred hot spot.

“It will blow your socks off, I guarantee.”
he was making a big claim, he was positive his guaranteed promise would live up
to its hype.

“I hope that isn't the only thing to
come off.” she said with a chuckle, concealing a hidden suggestive meaning that
only they understood. He hoped there would be much more than socks coming off
by the end of the day.